CU women win with balanced attack

Nine Buffs score in victory at Utah

SALT LAKE CITY -- When Chucky Jeffery scores a lot of points, the Colorado women's basketball team is tough to beat.

The Buffaloes are tough to beat when she doesn't score much, too.

On Sunday afternoon, Jeffery had just six points, but the 23rd-ranked Buffs rolled past Utah 56-43 in a Pac-12 Conference game at the Huntsman Center.

A balanced scoring attack, led by Jen Reese's 11 points, and another stellar effort on defense led the Buffs (13-2, 2-2 Pac-12) to a season sweep of the Utes (9-6, 0-4). CU beat Utah 67-57 on Tuesday in Boulder on a night when Jeffery poured in 28 points.

"We're better when we're more balanced," CU head coach Linda Lappe said on AM-760 radio after the game. "I really feel that."

Nine different Buffs scored, led by Reese and Arielle Roberson (10 points). In addition to her six points, Jeffery had six assists, five rebounds and three steals.

It wasn't CU's offense that shined, though. The Buffaloes' defense held Utah to 26.3-percent shooting (15 of 57), its second-lowest mark of the season. Utes guard Iwalani Rodrigues had just two points, on a layup in the final two minutes, when CU already led by 14. She came in averaging 12.1 points per game.

"One of our goals was to hold their big three scorers to less than 35 points and they scored 33," Lappe said of Utah's Taryn Wicijowski (16 points), Michelle Plouffe (15 points) and Rodrigues. "Great effort by our club.

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Utah took a 21-16 lead on a Wicijowski bucket with 6:19 to play in the first half. Over the course of the next nine minutes, CU went on a 14-3 run that gave it a 30-24 lead early in the second half.

A Plouffe 3-pointer cut CU's lead to 35-30 with 13:42 to play, but Reese scored the next seven points to build a 42-30 Buffs lead and freshman Ky Weston sparked a 7-0 spurt later in the half.

CU didn't light up the scoreboard in any of those runs, but used relentless defense to shut down the Utes.

"Our team was really slow and steady," Lappe said. "There were not a lot of big runs in this game; we just kept at it and kept at it and finished the game off strong."

Reese had scored just 10 points in the previous three Pac-12 games combined, but hit 5 of her11 shots this time.

"I feel like going into it I had more energy and overall more confidence," she said. "The last two games I've struggled on the offensive end. Going into it, I just wanted to change that around."

Lappe was also pleased with Weston, a true freshman who matched her career high with eight points.

"I thought Ky probably had her best game of her young freshman year," Lappe said. "She's had some really good weeks of practice lately and that's starting to show up on the court and she just provides us a spark coming in."

It was a spark the Buffs needed, as they improved to 4-0 on the road this season. Now, they look ahead to hosting Arizona State (on Friday) and Arizona (Sunday).

Notable

Rachel Hargis had a solid game, with four points, seven rebounds and three blocks. ... Sophomore Jasmine Sborov hit the first 3-pointer of her career. It was just her 11th attempt from beyond the arc. ... The Buffs shot 44.2 percent from the floor, their best mark in a conference game since hitting 49.1 percent against Nebraska on Feb. 6, 2011. ... CU's 16 assists are its highest total in a conference game since Feb. 23, 2011, against Oklahoma.

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